Sian

Name: Sian

Made by and When: Nancy Bruns/Brunswood Doll, 1986

Material: Cherry wood head, lower arms and hands, lower legs and feet; the body, arms to the wrists, and legs to the knees are white stuffed cloth.

Height: 23 inches

Hair, Eyes, Mouth: Long dark-brown wig with bangs and curled ends, brown painted eyes, open/closed smiling mouth with four carved upper teeth and six carved lower teeth, pink lip color.

Clothes: Wears an old-fashioned navy-blue floral-print dress with a ruffled collar and ruffled hemline, white half-slip, white pantaloons, and a white cloth cap trimmed with the dress fabric underneath the brim. The dress has a suede Brunswood Doll label on the lower right front and a loop of ribbon attached to the pocket on the lower left that bears the doll’s handwritten name. The feet are bare. (Except for an upturned big toe on the right, the other toes on the right are downturned. The left toes are all downturned.)

Other: Nancy Bruns made a variety of hand-carved and mass-produced wooden dolls for adult collectors that date back to the 1980s. Handwritten in the provided spaces on the front of the hang tag are the doll’s name, Sian, and cherry as the type of wood used. “A Brunswood Doll” is also on the front of the hang tag. The artist’s address is on the back of the hang tag above the statement: For decorative use only / Not to be used as a toy. The inside of the hang tag reads:

HANDCARVED one-by-one from native hardwoods polished to the smoothness of bisque and distinctively handpainted. The “Smiling from the inside” character etched in the faces of Brunswood Dolls, resulted from the creator’s experiences of watching her own five children grow to adulthood. The doll’s faces arms, and legs are sculpted by a master craftsman, out of rich cherry, maple, or walnut. Explicit facial detail, a soft hairstyle, personal signature, and specific number are added by artist Nancy Bruns before the twenty-three inch soft bodied dolls are donned in miniature clothing scaled from actual children’s designs, which include such features as double stitching, pockets, and button closures. They are a work of art from their turned up toes to the freckles on their nose. Brunswood Dolls are nearly as real as the child next door, and destined to become their owners’ prized possessions.

Gallery

Sian is a 23-inch doll carved from cherry wood by Nancy Bruns.

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See another Brunswood doll here.

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